‘Comfortable’ – Johnnie Jackson delivers verdict as Wimbledon climb back into play-off spots after Gillingham win

Johnnie Jackson hailed his AFC Wimbledon side’s 2-0 win over fellow play-off chasers Gillingham at Plough Lane on Tuesday night.

The Dons took the lead in the 32nd minute when Jake Revees picked up the ball on the edge of the box and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Omar Bugiel to head his ninth of the season past Glenn Morris.

Conor Masterson was issued with a second yellow card in the 38th minute—two minutes after he received his first booking—for pulling back John-Kymani Gordon as the Crystal Palace loanee looked to advance towards goal.

Omar Bugiel bagged his brace and gave the Dons breathing room in the 65th minute when Jake Reeves took aim from distance, but Gills keeper Glenn Morris was unable to hold onto the shot, with the Lebanese striker nipping in to slam the ball into the back of the net. 

Wimbledon moved back into the top seven and extended their winning run to four League Two games in a row.

“They’re playing for me, for the club and for each other,” said Jackson.

“We’re playing well and we’re in a good vein of form. We look hard to beat and offensively solid – we have added goals in the past few games.

“It was a tough opponent tonight, so to win as comfortably as we did was really pleasing.

“Sometimes when you talk to a neutral, they feel that it’s more comfortable than what it is on the sidelines.

“You’re always worrying or fearing the worst and whether you need to make certain changes to stop them.

“I didn’t feel that I had to do that until later on. I did feel as though we were comfortable in the game and there were going to be opportunities to go on and take the game away from them even more.

“We could have had a couple more.

“When we did need to defend, we did that too.” 

Bugiel’s brace took him to 10 goals in all competitions for the season.

“He gets a lot of plaudits for his work rate and what he does off the ball,” added Jackson.

“That’s all true and he deserves that, but he scored two proper centre-forward goals tonight.

“The one I enjoyed even move for Omar was getting a poacher’s one off the rebound.

“He doesn’t score loads of them and that’s where we want him.

“I want him to think more like a centre-forward and be in and around those areas to capitalise.

“He’s been outstanding.”

PICTURES: KYLE ANDREWS